04: Rehydration Salts and Not Much Else – Gharoli-Patal, India

Gharoli-Patal layover Day

We didn’t move the next day. I lethargically plopped between shade and my sleeping bag, nursing rehydration salts and still shitting though what I didn’t know. I hadn’t been able to eat or drink in almost two days. I desperately needed someone to tell me I was going to be okay because I just kept getting more weak and dehydrated. I desperately wanted to just suck it up and be okay.

I willed every drop of water and food to stay down and in me for more than 20 minutes, but my body was rebelling against me. I spiraled from sleep to waking up hotter than I could bear to stumbling outside to sitting in the shade and nursing water.

A lightning storm woke me up that night from my feverish sleep. I sat listening to rain, whipping wind and booming thunder close enough to make me crouch in lightening position despite my week body.